1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a drawer comprising metal side walls disposed on opposite sides of the drawer and provided at the top with guide rails constituting a part of guiding means for the drawer. The side walls have at the bottom an angled carrying flange for supporting a bottom plate of the drawer, which carrying flange comprises lanced retaining lugs for extending into a groove which extends in the bottom plate parallel to its edge in the region in which the bottom plate and carrying flange overlap. When the bottom plate has been placed, on the flange said lugs are bent into a fixing position, in which the lugs extend into the groove in the bottom plate.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Such a drawer is known from AT-A-388,651 and DE-A-38 05 669. Owing to the preferred mounting of the guide rail and owing to the provision of the carrying flange with the retaining lugs the side wall of the drawer has a multiple function so that additional fastening means for mounting the bottom plate of the drawer are not required. Owing to the provision of the grooves, it will be sufficient to adapt the bottom plate only as regards the distance of said grooves from the edge rather than also as regards the longitudinal spacing to the location at which the retaining lugs are provided, as will be required if apertures for receiving retaining means are provided in the flange. The bottom plate can simply be cut in the proper length from continuous plate stock having a suitable width, and retaining portions of the retaining lugs can dig into the side face of the groove at a distance from the free edge of the groove so that the material of the bottom plate remains intact between the portion engaged by the lugs and the free edge of the groove and the full carrying capacity of said material will thus be preserved.
In the known design said advantages are offset by some serious disadvantages. In the known design the retaining lugs have been lanced along lines of cut extending from the free edge of the flange transversely to the longitudinal direction of the flange and are tapered to a point adjacent to their free edge and have been bent to form a claw. Besides, the retaining lugs are bent up during the manufacture of the side wall to such an extent that the inner edge of the bend provides a support for the outer free edge of the groove and the claw of the retaining lug can be inserted into the groove of the bottom plate which has been placed on the flange. When the bottom plate has been placed on the flange, a tonglike or spreading tool which is backed by the side wall is used to bend the retaining lugs to a position in which said lug is parallel to the side face of the groove and optionally engages the side face of the groove and the claw is then forced into the side face of the groove. An automation of that bending operation is difficult. As the retaining lugs have partly been bent up, it is difficult to nest the side members for transportation because the bent claws of the retaining lugs might hook into each other. As a result, a large space is required for the transportation of the side walls and the distance of the grooves from the edges of the bottom plate must be within very small manufacturing tolerances.
The disadvantages which have been pointed out or even more severe disadvantages will arise in other drawers, which have side walls provided with carrying flanges and retaining lugs extending into grooves of the bottom plate. From GB-B-2,169,491 it is known that retaining lugs can also be bent about bend lines which are parallel to the longitudinal direction of the flange in such a manner that the height of the bent-up portion of said retaining lugs slightly exceeds the depth of the groove which has a small width substantially adapted to the width of the lug. In that case the retaining lugs forced into the bottom of the groove as the lugs are forced onto the bottom plate. In that case a satisfactory anchoring of the retaining lugs in the groove, i.e., on the plate, will be ensured. For this reason it is known from DE-U-86 34 281 in connection with a similar design to provide the retaining lugs at their free (top) edge with a harpoon profile, which will dig into the wall of the groove as the bottom plate is forced onto the flange. In that case the bottom plate is forced onto the flange in a direction which is normal to the main plane of the bottom plate and the side face of the groove is damaged and forced away from the free edge of the groove by the harpoon edge so that a satisfactory fixation cannot be achieved.
For this reason it is proposed in EP-A-0 3 22 545 that the groove in the bottom plate should be somewhat wider and lanced retaining lugs should be bent up about bend lines extending at an acute angle to the longitudinal direction of the flange so that said lugs extend obliquely to the groove and the longitudinal edges of the lugs will dig into the side faces of the groove as the bottom plate is forced onto the flange. In that case the assembling will be simpler but the edges of the retaining lugs will cut straight longitudinal furrows into the side faces of the grooves so that slide-in beads which are open toward the free edge of the groove will be formed and a satisfactory clamped fit will not be ensured. In all designs described the retaining lugs are bent up during the manufacture of the side walls so that the upstanding lugs adversely affect the nestability of the side walls. All these side walls do not permit a mounting of bottom plates having no corresponding grooves.
From AT-A-387,701 it is known that a drawer rail of means for guiding a drawer can be secured to a wooden side wall of the drawer by means of lugs which have been bent from a flange of the drawer rail and have barblike pointed ends and are forced into the material of the side wall together with the rail. In accordance with DE-U-81 11 691 a guide rail of a drawer is secured to side walls consisting of wood by means of bent up lugs which enter a groove of the side wall. In accordance with DE-U-75 16 951 a rail is integrally formed with flat pegs, which are friction fit in slots having flat sides engaged by side faces of the pegs so that the pegs are clamped there. DE-A-25 55 151 discloses a mounting of angle bars by bent-out claws. In accordance with DE-U-75 32 707 a guide rail of a drawer is provided with spaced apart lugs, which have been lanced from a flange and are undercut and by which a fixing bar formed on a side wall is forced as a clamping fit against a rail flange which engages the other edge of said wall. Finally, it is known from AT-A-326,865, -344,361 and -370,304 to provide drawer side walls of wood with roller-guiding rails, which are fixed in grooves of said side walls by means of lugs which are integrally formed with the rail and which are spread out into the groove after the rail has been inserted.